Woman Tutor Plans LBJ's Trips

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
May 1, 1969

A Government tutor in Dunster House has been helping President Johnson plan trips to college campuses next Fall to talk about the presidency.

Doris H. Kearns, formerly a White House Fellow and a member of Johnson's White House staff, said yesterday that she has visited the LBJ ranch several times, most recently during Easter week. "My job has been to jog his memory and to suggest possible themes for his lectures and discussions," Miss Kearns said. "For example, one topic might be "The President and Congress,'" she said.

Miss Kearns said that Johnson probably will not include Harvard among the three or four colleges he will visit. "He will probably choose schools where interest in his visit has been generated by the student body," she said. Asked whether she expects protests during Johnson's visits she said, "It would be optimistic to predict no demonstrations, but if most of the students are interested in learning from him, the visit will still be a success."

Miss Kearns said that the plan for the visits she has suggested to Johnson includes informal talks with students, not just large public lectures. "This would probably mean a two- or three-day stay at each college to give Johnson a chance to get used to the campus, eat with the students, and be with them informally," she said.

Johnson's public lectures at colleges will emphasize his personal experiences as President, she said. "I hope they will be very personal but not all anecdote," she added.

Miss Kearns said that she would probably accompany Johnson on several trips to see how the program works out and to plan changes in the format. "Once it is routinized, of course, I'll no longer go," she said.

Next Fall, Miss Kearns will teach Government 154, "The American Presidency," taught this year by Richard E. Neustadt, professor of Government